A Flower's Cure
by Sonic Phantom
Summary: Ash revists Celadon City as to take a trip around Kanto. He meets up with an old friend from Celadon who asks him about his journey. What will she ask him? And how will this affect her? BanShipping.


**A FLOWER'S CURE**

**- Celadon City -**

The scene opens up near the outskirts of Celadon City. The city had not changed much over several years. The only thing that attracted most people was the Game Room, in which people could go there and place their bets on some good numbers and hopefully win big prizes.

One person in particular was also in town. A young male trainer with a familiar red and white cap. He also wore a blue jacket, green gloves, blue jeans, and black sneakers. This was Ash Ketchum. And at his side was a Pikachu, whom was at the young trainer's side.

"It seems like Celadon City is what I remembered it use to be." Ash smiled.

"(Me too)!" Pikachu agreed with a nod.

Ash remembered the last time he was here. On his first journey, he was on a quest to win the eight badges of Kanto in order to enter the Pokemon League. One of the badges came from here, where Ash battled the Celadon Gym Leader: Erika. Who's specialty was in Grass type Pokemon. It had been a long time since he had last been here and coming back here brought back some old memories.

"(Hey Ash)!" Pikachu called out.

"Huh?" Ash looked down at Pikachu. "What is it, Pikachu?"

"(Do you think we should Erika again? It has been a long time since we last saw her.)" Pikachu told him.

"Hey, you're right." Ash replied with a thought. "I guess we could stop by at the Celadon Gym and say hello."

"(That might be a good idea.)" Pikachu said.

Ash's stomach soon started to growl, much to his dismay. "Aw man, I knew I shouldn't have skipped breakfast."

"(If Brock were here, we wouldn't have a problem with that.)" Pikachu noted.

That sure would've helped. After the Sinnoh League was finished, Ash had separated from his two friends. Dawn, whom wanted to be a Pokemon Coordinator. And Brock, who departed for his studies to become a Pokemon Doctor. Which also meant that he would not be traveling with Ash anymore seeing as he wanted to focus his studies on one day becoming a Pokemon Doctor. Ash sighed, seeing as how he was already missing his friends. But he knew that he would see them again someday. And by that time, Ash might realize his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master.

"Let's go ask somebody if there's a nearby cafe or something. We can meet up with Erika after we've gotten a bite to eat." Ash suggested.

Pikachu nodded in agreement. They were about to set off until Pikachu saw something ahead of him that made him stop in his tracks. "Pika?"

"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked. He looked in the direction in where Pikachu was looking at.

Another Pokemon skipped it's way towards their direction. It had a dark blue body with small hands and feet. And the most noticeable thing about it was it's large flower on it's head. Judging by this information, it was a Vileplume.

"Vile Vileplume!" Vileplume shouted as it made a halt right in front of Ash and Pikachu.

Ash seemed surprised. "It's a Vileplume!" The young trainer tilted his head. "Is it a wild Vileplume? Or does it belong to a different trainer?"

Pikachu met Vileplume face to face as the two Pokemon started talking. Obviously, Ash couldn't tell what the two were talking about, so he was pretty much left out of this one.

"Vileplume! There you are!" A voice called out.

Ash looked over to see someone else running towards them. She had short blue hair with a red headband on her head. She wore a green dress with a white vest like design on the front, and red slipper-like shoes on her feet that showed off her bare legs. The girl had finally caught up with Vileplume as she stopped to catch her breath.

"Finally, I caught up to you!" The girl said after regaining her breath. "No more running away like that, OK?"

"Vileplume!" Vileplume nodded.

Ash looked at the girl talking with her Vileplume. "Is that your Vileplume?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry if it caused you trouble." The girl said as she looked at Ash. But when she did, she gasped in surprise. "A-Ash Ketchum?"

"That's me..." Ash seemed to have recognize her. "Wait, I know you! You're Erika, right?"

The blue-haired girl nodded when she smiled happily. "I can't believe it's you! How have you been?"

"Great! And so is my buddy, Pikachu." Ash smiled back, as Pikachu approached Erika.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu waved.

Erika leaned forward a little and smiled at Pikachu. "Hey Pikachu, how are you doing? It's good to see you again!"

"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu replied.

"It seems like Pikachu is happy to see you again, as well." Ash said.

The Celadon Gym Leader smiled and looked back up at Ash. "How would you two like to come eat at the Pokemon Restaurant? We can talk more there."

Ash nodded quickly. "That sounds like a great idea."

Erika and Vileplume led the way as Ash and Pikachu followed behind. Some distance away, two suspicious looking characters overheard what they just witnessed.

"Well, isn't this our lucky day? That trainer with the Pikachu is here." A weird male voice said.

"Good. Perhaps we can earn our credibility back and be recognized in the Team Rocket name again." A female voice added.

"Yeah. How James gets ahead of us is beyond me." The male said in annoyance.

"And Jessie..." The girl seethed at her name. It seemed like the two had a grudge against those two members of Team Rocket. "She just fails so much at her job, that I almost don't find it funny anymore."

"It looks like we'll have to do what they never could: Steal that brat's Pikachu." The woman said, straight to the point.

"Yeah." The male agreed, that was, until a thought crossed his mind. "But how are we going to do it?"

"Don't worry about it." The girl smirked darkly. "I got it all planned out."

* * *

Ash and Erika were sitting under a patio, while Vileplume and Pikachu were playfully chasing each other around. They were enjoying a small lunch and some orange juice to go along with it.

"So Ash, what have you been doing since you left on your journey?" Erika asked him.

Ash was eager to answer her question. "After the Pokemon League was finished, I decided to keep on travelling to become a Pokemon Master. I've made new friends like May, Max, and Dawn. Misty went back home while Brock decided to stick around for a while. I've been just about everywhere."

"It sounds like you had a blast." Erika said with a chuckle.

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "But that's not all. I've also met new Pokemon I've never seen before and even became friends with them."

"Really? Do you have any of them with you now?" Erika asked.

"Uh...no." Ash shook his head. "I left them all back at Professor Oak's lab. I figured since I was going to take break for a while, I thought I'd only take along Pikachu."

"Oh, I see." Erika said, a little disappointed to hear that. "Speaking of which, what are you doing now?"

"Well, I figured I'd take a small journey around Kanto to see everything again. Since this was my first Pokemon journey, I'd thought maybe I could see everything again by my own views. Even that, Pikachu suggested that since we came to Celadon City, we were thinking about seeing you again, too."

Erika had a surprised look on her face. "Me? Really?"

"Yeah. Though we kind of surprised each other, though." Ash said, chuckling a bit.

Erika stayed silent for a moment. Ash wanted to see her again? Could he...No! No, that couldn't be it. But for some reason...that thought came to her mind. "Ash, can I ask you a question?"

"OK. Shoot." Ash replied.

"When you were going on your journeys, did you...did you find anybody that...interested you?" Erika asked slowly.

"Interested me? How?" Ash wondered.

"Well, what I mean is, did you find..." Erika gulped a bit. "A love interest?"

"A love interest? You mean a girlfriend?" Ash asked himself, tilting his head in thought. "No. Actually, that thought never came to me."

So Ash never found a girlfriend throughout any of his journeys? Erika wasn't sure what to make of this. On one hand she felt kinda sad for him because he had never found a girl that interested him, romantically speaking. Maybe it was just her, but she felt that Ash seemed very lonely. Of course, there was his friends that he traveled with, so that did count as something. But outside of his friends, he never actually found a girl that sparked his interest. It saddened the Celadon Gym Leader. She wondered if Ash actually felt the same way?

"Erika?" Ash spoke up. "Are you OK? You've been silent for a little while."

Erika heard Ash's words. "Yeah. I was just thinking about something, that's all."

"Really? What were you thinking about?" Ash questioned.

"Oh, it's nothing." Erika shook her head. "Nothing important, anyway."

Ash wasn't sure whether Erika was really thinking about something or maybe she just dozed off for a bit. Oh well, I guess it wasn't anything to worry about.

Suddenly, a sound was heard, as if something large had landed on the ground. Catching everyone, including Ash, Erika, and their Pokemon.

"What was that?" Erika asked.

Ash turned to see a giant mechanical robot machine standing there, towering over everyone that saw this in fright. The machine was colored black, was well-rounded on the belly, had thin legs, bulky arms, and had a small red visor on the front of the face.

Ash and Erika ran towards at the sight of it. Pikachu and Vileplume stood by for an attack as everyone else fled from the sight.

"What is that thing?" Erika asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have a pretty good idea on who might be behind that thing." Ash said, narrowing his eyes a the visor.

"So you think you have it all figured out, don't you, brat?" A female voice called out with a laugh.

"If you have a short mind, then you obviously have no mind at all!" The male voice laughed along, as well.

When Ash heard those voices, they were not what he was expecting. But he still somehow recognized them. "Those voices...I think I've heard them before."

Erika seemed to have an idea on where Ash was going with this. "You don't mean Team Rocket, do you?"

"Well, it looks like the girl is not as dumb as the brat is." The female voice said, as the cockpit opened and revealed the two voices. One of them was a female with blonde hair pig-tailed hair, purple eyes, red star-like earings, white gloves, and white boots. The other was a green-haired male with black eyes, white gloves, and white boots. Both of them were wearing the familiar Team Rocket black uniforms.

"Prepare for Trouble!" The female started off.

"And make it double!" The male added.

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all peoples within the nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"Butch!"

"Team Rocket circling the Earth both day and night!"

"Surrender to us now or lose the fight!"

"Raticate!" Raticate shouted.

Ash narrowed his eyes when he saw these two members of Team Rocket. "Cassidy! And Brooke!"

Butch had a look of disbelief on his face before. "It's BUUUUUUUTCH! How many times must I go over this? It's Butch! Not Brooke! Didn't your mother ever teach you how to learn other people's names?"

"What are you two doing here?" Ash asked.

"What else?" Cassidy asked with a dark smile on her face. "We're after your Pikachu."

"And if you try to stop us, then you will get hurt." Butch warned with a dark smile of his own. "Ready, Cassidy?"

"Ready, Butch." Cassidy nodded back as the cockpit closed itself back up.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.

Pikachu obeyed as he released a large shockful of electrical energy towards the robot. But the electric attack was simply evaporated the moment it touched the robot, much to Ash and Pikachu's surprise.

"What? It had no effect!" Ash exclaimed.

Cassidy laughed from the cockpit. "Did you really think we were stupid enough to fall for that?"

"This baby can evaporate any type of energy you try to use against it." Butch explained.

The young trainer narrowed his eyes in anger. Now since energy attacks were out of the question, he would have to think of a different approach.

"Ash!" Erika called out to him. "We can probably try using physical attacks on it."

Ash seemed to smirk at that idea. "Right. Pikachu! Use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu charged at the robot as his tail started to glow brightly. Pikachu prepared to leap at the robot and strike at it with it's Iron Tail.

"I don't think so!" Cassidy fired back, as she pressed a button on the controls.

The robot's front opened up, revealing it to be a large hand as it launched out and grabbed Pikachu before he could complete his move. It quickly pulled back with Pikachu in it's hand as the front closed itself, sealing Pikachu inside it's body.

"No! Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed.

"Well, it looks like we've already got our prize." Cassidy said with a triumphant laugh.

Inside the robot's belly, Pikachu repeatedly used thunderbolt to try and free itself. But it seemed like the robot was unaffected by this, which made Pikachu's attacks worthless, even though Pikachu wasn't going to give up just yet.

"Sorry Pikachu, but you're not getting out of this one. In fact, you're already helping us out." Butch chuckled creepily.

Ash's situation was already starting to get worse. Pikachu was already captured and he didn't bring any of his other Pokemon with him.

"Vileplume!" Erika commanded. "Use Petal Dance!"

Vileplume obeyed and released a trail of pink petals at the robot. But unfortunately, Vileplume's petals were having no effect against Team Rocket's creation.

"Darn it!" Erika said in anger.

Cassidy saw the Vileplume that had just used Petal Dance on their robot. "What does that Vileplume think it's doing? Does it actually think it can cut through our robot?"

"Nonsense!" Butch laughed it off. "That Vileplume doesn't even remotely have enough firepower to actually take us down."

"Whatever the case, we should probably get it out of the way before we depart." Cassidy suggested.

"Roger that." Butch agreed.

Back with Erika and Ash, the two stood by as Vileplume was ready for her trainer's next command.

"Vileplume, use Vine Whip!" Erika commanded.

Vileplume released two large vines from her large petal and lashed wildly at the giant robot, trying to make it stagger off it's feet.

Cassidy already grew annoyed by this. "Anytime, Butch!"

"IT'S BUTCH, YOU GOT THAT?" Butch shouted in annoyance before he realized he called her by his name. "Oh, that's what you said." Shrugging it off, he then pressed a few buttons on the panel.

The front of the robot's body opened, releasing a surge of electric energy towards Vileplume, shocking the Pokemon in it's tracks. Normally since Vileplume was grass type Pokemon, this wouldn't do much to affect her. However, this type of electric energy was able to do more damage to her than usual.

"Vileplume!" Erika shouted in fright.

The attack stopped as Vileplume staggered backwards a couple steps before falling backwards, obviously weakened by the attack. Erika went over to her Vileplume to check and see if she was all right.

"Vileplume, are you OK?" Erika asked in concern.

"Vileplume..." Vileplume said weakly as a small surge of electricity surrounded her.

"What's wrong with Vileplume?" Ash asked, also concerned about Vileplume's condition.

Erika looked all over Vileplume for a moment before turning to Ash. "She's paralyzed. Unless I had some antidote, I could heal her paralysis."

Ash looked around to see if there was a Pokemart nearby. Unfortunately, there wasn't one nearby. And because of this, it would take Ash too long for him to search for one and get some antidote. If he did that, then Cassidy and Butch would get away with his Pikachu.

"All right, time to finish this off!" Butch said, as he checked the the power levels on the panels. "Are you ready, Cassidy?"

"Ready to fire. Pikachu is giving us more energy than we even thought." Cassidy smirked. "Firing at full power!" She pressed a button on the panel which flash red.

The front of the robot's body opened again, this time revealing a medium-sized cannon and it had it's sights set on Vileplume.

Ash could see the cannon was firing right towards Vileplume. But Erika was still at her Pokemon's side. "Erika! Get out of the way!"

"But Ash, I have to help my Vileplume!" Erika called back.

"Then move it out of the way!" Ash replied.

"I'm trying! But it's too heavy for me to lift." Erika replied back, trying to put her muscle into lifting her Pokemon in her arms.

The cannon was almost charging at full power. Ash kept switching his views towards Erika and the charging cannon. He could see that there wasn't much time left.

"Angle OK. Target locked." Cassidy could see both Vileplume and Erika still together. "Too bad for that girl and her Vileplume. It looks like they're both going to feel the full blast of our robot." She grinned almost maniacally. "FIRE!"

On that note, the cannon fired it's large energy blast towards it's target.

By the time Erika finally managed to lift Vileplume in her arms, she saw the blast heading towards her and her Pokemon. The Celadon Gym Leader was frozen stiff as the blast came her way. It seemed as if something took over her and forced her not to move out of harm's way. Her eyes were wide, and her face was was riding with a mix of shock and worry that she might actually get hit in the blast.

At that moment, she shut her eyes, almost as if a sign of death was looming over her head and waiting to strike her at any moment.

"Erika!" Ash shouted as he ran towards her and shoved her and her Vileplume to the side, as the fully-charged blast hit the young trainer right in the center.

Erika looked over to see that Ash was taking the hit instead of herself and her Vileplume. Erika's eyes grew with worry as the blast was successful in sending Ash flying backwards at a fast distance, making him land and roll on the repeatedly multiple times before his body stopped.

A dark silence filled the air. Erika's face turned to horror as she saw Ash's body. He was not moving.

"NO! ASH!" Erika cried out. She ran as fast as her legs could go towards his side.

Vileplume, now feeling a little better, had enough strength to run after Erika, whom had just reached Ash.

Erika could not believe what she was seeing as tears started to fill her eyes. She got on her knees and checked Ash's pulse. Luckily, Ash was still alive, but just barely. He had been knocked out unconscious by the blast, meaning that he was going to be out for some time.

"Ash..." Erika said slowly, as one of her tears poured down her face. "You saved me...I promise to return to the favor to you by rescuing your Pikachu."

Vileplume had reached Erika's side just to see the sad look on her face. "Vileplume...?"

Cassidy and Butch saw what had happened when Ash protected Erika and her Vileplume from harm just a few moments ago. Even they were surprised by what they had seen.

"What on Earth was that brat thinking?" Cassidy asked, flabbergasted. "Did he really have to throw himself in there like that?"

"That stupid kid must've been out of his mind. I mean, come on! It's just a Vileplume! What harm could it be?" Butch replied.

Erika wiped the tears away from her face and turned back towards the robot in anger. "How dare you hurt Ash! You're going to pay for what you've done!"

Nearby, there were several people watching the scene from a safe distance. However, they were all wearing brown trench coats, but were in different size. Well, one of them was smaller than the other two figures. The small figure was just as tall as Pikachu's length, probably.

"Did you see that? The twerp risked his own self. He's crazy!" The female said with a familiar voice.

"He's really a daredevil jumping in like that!" Another familiar male voice added.

The third smaller person wasn't paying attention towards Ash, but to the Vileplume. "Hey guys, that Vileplume is trying to say something to her."

Getting a closer look at figures and their voices, they could be identified as the original Team Rocket; Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"What's it saying, then?" James asked.

Meowth was trying to listen in on what Vileplume was speaking. "Vileplume says that she can still fight, despite being paralyzed by that robot earlier. I can fight, with or without any antidote. Hmm..."

"That Vileplume is pretty brave. Even when the odds are stacked against her." Jessie said, sounding impressed and worried at the same time."

James nodded in agreement. "Definitely."

Jessie growled angrily. "I can't believe those posers are taking our jobs! Cassidy needs to be put in her place!"

James felt the same way, too. "And so does Butcher, too!"

"HEY IT'S BUTCH! NOT BUTCHER!" Butch yelled angrily before tilting his head to the side. "Hey wait, who am I talking to? I swear I could've heard a familiar voice just a second ago." Butch then shrugged. "Oh well, maybe it's just my imagination."

Meowth had a paw on his chin, pondering about something. Jessie noticed this.

"What is it, Meowth? What are you humming about?" Jessie questioned curiously.

"I've been thinking...Vileplume said something about antidote." Meowth pondered as he dug through his trench coat pocket for something. He pulled out an item, revealing it to be a yellow-colored bottle.

"What is that?" James wondered.

"It's an antidote bottle. I found it in this trenchcoat when we stole them sometime back." Meowth replied.

"Oh? What kind of cure does it contain?" Jessie asked.

"If I read the contents correctly, it's probably Paralysis antidote." Meowth answered.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them. Their eyes slowly widened before turning to each other. "Hey! I got an idea!"

Vileplume was ready to go at it against Cassidy and Butch's robot creation. However, the Plant-type Pokemon was still affected by the paralysis she had received earlier.

"Vileplume, are you sure you can still fight?" Erika asked her Pokemon.

"Vileplume..." Vileplume nodded, but Erika could see the small shocks surrounding Vileplume's body.

Erika wanted to stay confident. But with Vileplume's condition, she wasn't sure how long she was going to last. What if she couldn't save Pikachu? What if she was about to let Ash down? She never had these kind of doubts before during her course of Pokemon battles, but now, it was starting to catch up to her.

Vileplume saw this and felt concern. "Vileplume...?"

Erika was beginning to lose her confidence now. She lowered her head in shame. "Ash...I'm so sorry..."

A sound was just heard, something like glass hitting the ground, but not close enough to breaking. Erika opened her eyes and saw that a yellow-colored bottle had rolled towards her feet before coming to a stop.

"Huh? What's this?" Erika leaned down and picked the bottle up. When she examined it, she started to smile. "It's Paralysis Antidote!"

"Vileplume!" Vileplume cheered happily.

Erika turned to her Pokemon. "Hold still, Vileplume. I'm going to cure your paralysis right now!"

Vileplume held still as Erika sprayed a few squirts of the bottle onto her. Shortly she was done, Vileplume felt refreshed and happy than ever.

"Vileplume! Vileplume!" Vileplume jumped up and down excitedly.

Erika smiled when she saw that Vileplume was cured. "All right, Vileplume!"

Back in the cockpit of the robot, Cassidy and Butch could see that Vileplume was no longer weak.

"Well, this isn't good. It looks like that brat's Vileplume isn't so weak anymore." Butch realized.

"Does it matter? We still have Pikachu's energy on our side." Cassidy reminded him. "Fire the cannon again!"

"Roger that! Preparing to fire once again!" Butch shouted, as he pressed the same red button again.

Then for some odd reason, nothing happened. Butch and Cassidy wondered about this.

"Hey, what's going on?" Butch asked, as he pressed the button repeatedly. "Nothing's happening!"

Cassidy checked the readings from inside the cannon. Her eyes seemed to have frozen over. "Um...Butch?"

"What?" Butch looked at her, looking a little worried from her eyes. "What's with that scary look on your face?"

"Um...I just checked the energy levels of the cannon...and I think we're..." Cassidy paused in mid-sentence.

"What? What?" Butch demanded. "What is it?"

"...Well, let's just say that the energy is already starting to over power and..." Cassidy gulped nervously.

Butch nodded. "OK. So the machine's power is starting to overload, hm...wait, WHAT?"

While Cassidy and Butch were beginning to realized their new situation, Vileplume was already for battle once again, with Erika giving the commands.

"Vileplume, use Vine Whip on the front of the robot!" Erika commanded.

Vileplume's vines came out again and lashed out towards the robot again, already beginning to smack at it's stomach area repeatedly. The Vine Whip was so fast, dents were already being made and were continuing to get bigger with each lash of Vine Whip. The robot was staggering a lot, trying to regain it's footing.

"Try and hold this thing together, Butch!" Cassidy yelled at him.

"I'm trying, OK?" Butch fired back, trying to get a hand on the controls.

The Vine Whips were dealing a lot of damage to the front of the robot, making it a huge target.

"All right, Vileplume! Now use Headbutt in the same area!" Erika pointed out.

Vileplume began to build up speed within herself as she ran towards the robot and pounded her head at the dented area of the robot with full force, making the dented front break and fall apart

Inside of the robot's middle area was Pikachu, whom smiled when he saw Vileplume. "Pikachu!"

"Vileplume!" Vileplume waved.

"Pikachu! Over here!" Erika called out and waved.

PIkachu saw Erika, and quickly dashed towards her. The Celadon Gym Leader leaned downwards and smiled.

"Are you all right, Pikachu?" Erika asked.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded. He then looked around and saw Ash, whom was still unconscious. This made Pikachu widen his eyes. "Pika...!"

"Oh..." Erika's face frowned sadly. "Pikachu, there's something that I have to tell you." Erika said to him.

"Pi...?" Pikachu tilted his head.

The cockpit of the robot opened, making Cassidy and Butch bail out as they started to catch their breath.

"That was a close one." Cassidy huffed between breaths.

"Yeah. At least it couldn't get any worse." Butch said.

But unfortunately for Butch and Cassidy, it did get worse. Pikachu an angry look on his face as his red cheeks started to spark furiously.

"Uh...so, what were you saying about things not getting any worse?" Cassidy asked nervously.

"Um...let me think here..." Butch said, trying to come up with an excuse.

"PIIIIKACHUUUUUU!" Pikachu released a strong force of electricity at Butch and Cassidy, causing them to get shocked in the process. And shortly after that, the robot beside them blew up, sending both members of Team Rocket flying towards the sky.

"So what was it about not things getting any worse, Bob?" Cassidy asked, crossing her arms in defeat as they were flying in the air.

"HEY, IT'S BUTCH! NOT BOB!" Butch yelled out.

"Whatever, Barney."

Butch closed his eyes and sulked to himself. "That's it. I'm officially going to change my name to Ken."

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN...!" The two of them yelled out before disappearing in a twinkle of the blue sky.

* * *

Back on the ground, Erika, Vileplume, and Pikachu surrounded Ash. All of them were really concerned about him.

"Pikachu..." Pikachu checked on Ash to see if he was okay.

Erika knew that the young trainer was still alive, so it wasn't too late. "Vileplume. Use Synthesis on Ash."

Vileplume nodded as she closed her eyes. A green aura surrounded Ash's body as it began to heal his wounds. When Vileplume was done, Ash's damaged body was already healed, but he was still out thanks to the blast by that robot.

"Ash..." Erika whispered as she cradled Ash's head in her arms like a mother would do for her child.

* * *

Ash was resting on a bed inside what looked to be a room filled with fresh and beautiful plants. Pikachu and Vileplume were at Ash's side waiting for him to wake up.

A slight moan was heard from Ash as he was starting to wake up from his sleep. Pikachu and Vileplume started to smile when he sat up. Ash started to rubbed his eyes.

"Oh man..." Ash rubbed his back. "What happened to me?" He started to look around until he saw Pikachu at his side.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered.

Ash smiled when he saw Pikachu. "Pikachu!"

Pikachu leaped into his arms as Ash hugged his best buddy.

"I'm so glad you're OK." Ash said happily.

"Pika!" Pikachu replied as he looked at him.

"Huh?" Ash noticed Vileplume there as well. "Vileplume? You're here too?"

"Vileplume!" Vileplume nodded.

"But wait...where's Erika?" Ash wondered. "Last I remembered, we were battling Butch and Cassidy in that robot. And then I remembered being knocked out...and ended up here." He got himself out of bed, feeling a lot better than usual. "And I don't feel any pain on myself. That's strange..."

"Vileplume!" A voice called out.

"Vileplume! Vileplume!" The plant Pokemon shouted out.

Erika had entered the room to see Vileplume, but also gasped when she saw Ash was awake. "Ash!"

"Erika!" Before Ash could wave back, Erika quickly wrapped her arms around Ash and hugged him tightly.

"Ash, you're OK!" Erika said, crying happily. "I'm so very happy!"

"Erika...I can't breath..." He said slowly in between breaths.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Erika said, as she quickly let go of Ash. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah...but, wait where am I?" Ash wondered.

"You're at the Celadon Gym." Erika answered.

"The Celadon Gym?" Ash was confused.

"I should probably explain about what happened today.

She told him about the events that occurred. From the moment Erika was about to be blasted until Ash saved her and took the blow for her, to the end where she saved his Pikachu from Team Rocket's robot and sent them blasting off. Ash was in awe at all this.

"Erika...I don't know what to say..." Ash said, still kinda feeling a bump on his head or something. "To be honest, it all seems..."

"I know." Erika interrupted him as she lowered her head. "I'm sorry that you had to get hurt in my place."

"Hey, don't feel bad." Ash smiled, trying to cheer Erika up. "You saved Pikachu. That's all that matters, right?"

Erika looked up into his eyes. She soon smiled. "Yeah. You are right. By the way, how are you feeling?"

"Honestly, I feel great!" Ash replied.

"Great!" Erika said.

Silence soon filled the air. Both of them have neither said anything to each other. Vileplume whispered something into Pikachu's ear as they both went off together, leaving Ash and Erika alone.

The silence was then broken by Erika. "Ash? Can I ask you about something?"

"Sure. What is it?" Ash wondered.

"It's about from earlier." Erika replied. "When you mentioned you never thought about a girlfriend, did you ever feel you were...alone?"

"Alone?" Ash was confused. "You mean as in not getting a girlfriend? Well...not really. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I figured that maybe deep down, you felt really lonely. Maybe it's just me saying that, but that's how I feel." Erika replied.

"Oh, well...hmm. I remember a few girls I met that had some crushes on me, but I usually see them as just my friends. I guess maybe I'm not the romantic type of guy like Brock is." Ash thought.

Erika's eyes leaned to the side. "Now that I think about it...if you hadn't shoved me earlier and taken the blast, then I wouldn't..."

"Erika?" Ash tilted his head.

Then unexpectedly, Erika leaned forward a little and kissed Ash lightly on the lips. Ash froze, surprised.

"E-Erika? Wha...?" Ash was bemused.

Erika laughed. "Hope you were surprised."

"Yeah...but..." Ash was confused again.

"Well, I was hoping maybe I could be your girlfriend." Erika smiled as she held Ash's hands in her own. "Maybe I can be that special someone for your heart. What do you say?"

Ash wasn't sure what to make of this. The Celadon Gym Leader asked him to be his girlfriend! He felt kinda skeptical about it when he first thought of it, but soon, he smiled. "Maybe knowing about love might not be such a bad thing."

Erika's lit up with tears. "Ash...you're my hero." She cupped her hands on Ash's face and kissed him again. Only this time, Ash returned it. The two trainers sat on the bed as they continued to kiss, sharing their love for each other as the night passed on.

* * *

From outside, the trio known as Jessie, James and Meowth were on their blimp as they watched from a binoculars point of view.

"Looks like the twerp's got his own girlfriend now." Jessie replied with a sigh.

"And we got absolutely nothing from it." James pouted.

"Not exactly." Meowth corrected. "We did manage to help stop those Team Rocket wannabes from taking Pikachu."

"Hey, that's right!" Jessie exclaimed. "Stealing Pikachu's our job. And we're not going to let anyone do that in our place."

"Besides, we're the original Team Rocket. No one can take that away." James smiled as he held up a rose in his hand.

"Meowth that's right!" Meowth nodded.

"Team Rocket's riding off again! " Team Rocket shouted, as the rode their blimp off to a new direction.

* * *

**Please, read and review.**


End file.
